The government this week released its draft State Infrastructure Plan, which has been developed to prioritise infrastructure needs across the state and formulate ways for it to be delivered.
“The State Infrastructure Plan takes a long-term view of infrastructure planning by identifying the key challenges facing Queensland over the coming decades and presenting opportunities across a range of sectors to address these challenges,” Deputy Premier and Minister for Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning Jackie Trad said.
“The plan is also a blueprint to prioritise and deliver projects that foster economic growth and promote community wellbeing across the state,” Trad said.
The draft plan has identified five priorities for future investment, with increasing the capacity and resilience of South East Queensland’s transport system at the top of the list.
That is something that Paul Wilson, founder of Gold Coast based buyers' agency We Find Houses, believes would bring a huge benefit to the Gold Coast in particular.
“There’s been a bit going on here with the building of the light rail, but we need to keep pushing that and have it rolled out all the way through the region,” Wilson said.
“The other thing that needs to happen is the widening of the freeway. If we can get it to be three lanes for all of it that would be great for the area.”
In particular, Wilson said there need to be better links between the wider area and the Gold Coast airport.
“If the light rail connected to the airport that would be great,” he said.
“The airport is a great entry point for the city and it’s where the majority of the tourists come in, but we just need a bit more investment in it and I think the area would really benefit from that.”
While the area has been identified as an area for future investment, Wilson said that’s not to say there’s nothing going on at the moment.
“The 2018 Commonwealth Games being held here has resulted in a lot of people being proactive in spending money, so we’re seeing some good investment happening here already.
“There might be some people who think the Gold Coast is still just a tourist area, but when you scratch the surface you see that’s not the case. Obviously tourism is a big factor and we do have some beautiful beaches, but that’s underpinned by other things as well.
“We’ve got an economy that is strong in many areas and population growth is stabilising and bringing a strong demand for places to live, which justifies why so many people have invested here recently.”
